Gov. Daza seeks SP inquiry on NGCP works in Samar

CATARMAN, Northern Samar – Governor Paul Daza appears to have lost his patience with the frequent blackouts that transpires this province. On Monday, the governor called up Vice Governor Ram Uy and the members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan for a meeting in his office to asked them to conduct an immediate legislative inquiry on the matter.
 
“Nalangut na gud ak sa serbisyo. Dako ini nga perwisyo diri la sa mga tawo pero sa ekonomiya san Northern Samar, sa bug-os nga probinsya. (I’m already angry with the service. This is greatly damaging, not only to the people but to the economy of Northern Samar… in the whole province, “ Daza said.

 The governor’s ire stemmed from the latest two-day power interruption in the province on Sunday morning, September 16 that lasted until the evening of Monday, September 17.

 The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NCGP) has announced for a 12-hour power interruption only from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Sunday.

 The said temporary cut off of electricity to Northern Samar Electric Cooperative (Norsamelco) was part of the planned maintenance schedule of NGCP purpotedly to replace rotten poles and repair on the Calbayog-Palanas Cara-Catarman 69kv transmission lines.

 However, the restoration of power that was expected at 6 p.m. on Sunday did not happen. The electricity returned at 8:37 the following morning on Monday, which only lasted for an hour. The lights went off again at 9:27 that same morning.

 The long blackout terribly irritated the residents of Northern Samar especially that power outages here not only happen during weekends but also on weekdays, where brownouts has become frequent.

Gov. Daza said office works in the capitol are also affected by the unexpected long power outages.

 “Nahahamper an operations sa kapitolyo. Although we have the generator sets makuri kay limited amun pag-gamit san kuryente. And siyempre dugang nga gastos kay mahal an krudo..”, he said, adding that he has received numerous complaints from businessmen about the unstable electricity in the province.

 The governor hopes that the real situation of the “worsening” electricity here will be resolved once the SP inquiry is done.

 Daza remembers that in 2009 when he was still congressman of the first district here, officials of the then National Transmission Corporation(Transco) has promised during a power summit that the upgrading of transmission lines to Northern Samar would be finished by 2011 or 2012.

 “Pero waray pa man katatapos hasta yana. This electricity is one problem that I want to be solved at once as this seriously hampers the development of our province,” he said.

 Trees blamed

 In its media advisories, the NGCP explained that the Palanas-Cara-Catarman transmission lines “tripped off” when their personnel started to restore the electricity on Sunday evening.

 Elmer Cruz, corporate information officer of NGCP, said thru a text message that a coconut tree fell over the conductors at Barangay Roño, Oquindo District in Calbayog City which caused the said trip off.

 The following Monday morning the power was restored but went off again after only an hour, due to another tripping of the Palanas Cara-Catarman-Allen/Bobolosan 69kv transmission line.

 Last Thursday, September 13, an unannounced blackout occurred in the province that lasted for 5 hours. The NGCP explained in a media advisory that the blackout was caused by the tree that leaned over the conductors in Barangay Bayho in Lope De Vega town.

 A resident of the said barangay reportedly cut the tree that leaned on the conductors. (RACHEL V. ARNAIZ)

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Posted by lsde on Sep 20 2012. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.